News

A court in St Petersburg has found local resident Nina Akimova guilty under the article on inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Offences Code). This was reported by the press service of the St Petersburg courts.

Akimova posted several comments from her smartphone on VKontakte, including the following: “WOULD BE GOOD TO STRANGLE YOU BASTARDS—Putinists!!!” According to the press service, an expert analysis found “linguistic and psychological indicators of degrading the dignity of a group of people identified by their allegiance to the President of the Russian Federation, V. V. Putin.”

In court, Akimova explained that she had posted these comments to express her opinion and so that “the current authorities would know the people’s views on certain shortcomings,” but admitted that she should have expressed herself in a more appropriate way.

The Dzerzhinsky District Court in St Petersburg fined her 10,000 roubles (approx. US$110).

In St Petersburg, two students from the Bonch-Bruevich State University of Telecommunications have been detained for twice shouting a “Ukrainian greeting,” reports Fontanka. They were reported to police by the deputy vice-rector for security.

According to journalists, a call from a university representative was received at Police Department No. 78 during the day on 13 February. Security forces arrived at the scene and detained two students from the first and second year in a corridor.

“It was established that, while walking down the corridor, they twice shouted a Ukrainian greeting out of hooligan motives,” Fontanka’s article says.

The young people were then taken to the police station, where police drew up protocols against them for publicly displaying extremist organisation symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). Security forces are considering opening a criminal case against the students.

14:57 Two St Petersburg State University of Telecommunications students who yelled the “Ukrainian greeting” have been sentenced to five days’ arrest under the article on displaying extremist organisation symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code), reports RusNews.

In addition to the deputy vice-rector, the young men’s friends also testified against them to police. RusNews adds that the students were playing a game to see who could shout the “Ukrainian greeting” louder. The students themselves said they “did not intend to offend anyone” and the shouting was “a stupid joke.”

On 28 January, the Proletarsky District Court in Saransk fined a local resident 1,000 roubles (about US$11) for posting a meme featuring Adolf Hitler and a swastika. This was reported by “Ostorozhno, novosti.”

The woman was found guilty under the article on displaying Nazi symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). She was charged for a meme she posted nine years ago, which included a photo of Hitler and the caption: “So where are your hands, where are your hands, let’s raise our hands and do the salute.”

In Moscow, the bookshop Falanster cancelled the launch of Kirill Medvedev’s book, “Antifascism for Everyone. Revised and Expanded,” following reports by pro-war Z-channels. The cancellation was reported on Facebook by Boris Kupriyanov, the founder of Falanster, as noted by the media outlet Current Time.

The launch of the antifascist book, which in particular discusses the murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, was due to take place this evening.

Boris Kupriyanov pointed out that the report was made by the channel “Sons of Monarchy.” However, as Current Time noted, the first post accusing the book’s author, Kirill Medvedev, was published by “URAL LIVE.” In the post, Medvedev was described as a “radical” who “collected money for terrorists and saboteurs” and who “decided to throw a party for himself in the centre of Moscow.”

Later, the channel “Sons of Monarchy” reposted this publication, adding that the book launch was “a good reason for both right-wing and normal left-wing patriots to come to this event” and to ask Medvedev questions “about his civic position.”

Boris Kupriyanov stated that the authors of these channels “hate real antifascists,” including Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, who were killed by neo-Nazis.

“They hate them in a primitive way, to the point of convulsions, to trembling hands. And they easily join together to inform on others (as they know no other way) in order to ban, to shut out,” added the founder of Falanster.

The movement “Zov Naroda” (demanded that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the FSB “deal with the foreign agent” Kirill Medvedev and investigate him “for rehabilitating Nazism,” because of his performance of the song “Sacred War” with obscene language and “conducting subversive activities” in Russia.

• Kirill Medvedev is the founder of the Free Marxist Publishing House, a political activist, vocalist, and guitarist for the band Arkady Kots. He was a member of the left-wing political organisation Russian Socialist Movement (RSD), which in April 2024 was declared a “foreign agent” by the Ministry of Justice. A month later, the RSD announced its self-dissolution.

Sergei Kustov, the editor-in-chief of the Ivanovo-based media outlet “IvanovoNEWS | BARS,” has been fined 100,000 rubles (approximately US$1,100) over a mistake in the surname of a Russian soldier missing in Ukraine. This was reported by “7×7.”

The Frunzensky District Court found Kustov guilty of “discrediting the Russian army” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). A report was filed against the journalist in January.

In November 2024, the outlet published the names of 17 servicemembers from Ivanovo Oblast who had gone missing in the war in Ukraine, but spelled one of the surnames incorrectly. Law enforcement considered this to be “spreading unverified information as factual.”

“IvanovoNEWS | BARS” openly supports the war. Previously, Kustov stated that the policeman simply wants to “settle scores” because the outlet has demanded that another high-ranking Ministry of Internal Affairs official be punished: “who blatantly lies and whose actions contain signs of a criminal offence.”

In Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, the concert by singer Dora (Darya Shikhanova), which was scheduled for 14 February, has been definitively cancelled. The performance had already been postponed twice to other dates. The organisers announced the cancellation on 4 February here.

No reason for the concert’s cancellation has been given. Dora is among the performers included on an unofficial “blacklist” of artists. On 24 February 2022, she wrote on social media that she was postponing the release of her new album: “This seems so insignificant and foolish. I am endlessly sorry, all of this is incredibly frightening. I wish this was not real,” the singer noted.

The Nakhodka City Court has fined a local resident 12,000 roubles (approximately US$130) for a comment about people supporting the war in Ukraine. This was reported by the regional press service for the courts.

The man was found guilty under the article for inciting hatred (Art. 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code); he pleaded guilty and expressed remorse. According to law enforcement, on 3 March last year the man who was fined posted a comment on a group Telegram chat message.

In Vladimir, a city to the east of Moscow, a cashier was fired from Pyaterochka supermarket after a customer filmed and insulted them over their makeup, reported local pro-government journalist Aleksandr Stepanov on his Telegram channel.

“One of these so-called defenders of traditional values must be feeling a lot better: that cashier was fired from Pyaterochka. Whatever the case, I don’t consider mocking a person to be a traditional value—though apparently, some people do,” he wrote.

The Vladimir-based outlet Dovod reports that this information was confirmed by a source in the local branch of the Interior Ministry. The outlet describes the cashier as a transgender woman, but there has been no definite information about this person’s gender identity.

Recently, a video was circulating on social media, filmed by a customer who insulted the cashier for wearing makeup. The customer used several homophobic slurs.

“Guys are dying for faggots like you, is that it, you jerk, fuck? Why are you wearing makeup, why the hell are you doing your eyebrows? You should be a man too,” the customer said to the Pyaterochka staff member. He also expressed outrage: “Why the hell do they hire faggots?”

After this, “Veterans of Russia” demanded an explanation from the X5 Group, which operates the Pyaterochka supermarket chain. They also filed complaints with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee, requesting an investigation “to check for possible breaches of the law related to LGBT propaganda.”

According to the court decision, on 31 January Gabov publicly spoke out against the “special military operation” in a passenger carriage and said he wanted to help Ukraine. It is noted that Gabov admitted guilt and expressed remorse.

On 30 January, the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow fined philologist and former coordinator of Golos in the Moscow region, Inna Karezina, 15,000 roubles (approximately US$160) under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation” (Art. 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by the Moscow courts’ joint press office.

The reason was a YouTube video in which Karezina states that she is a member of Golos, as specified in the ruling on the court’s website. In September 2021, she and other movement coordinators were labelled as “foreign agents.”

A protocol has been drawn up against Shiyes defender and former Severodvinsk city councillor Sergey Ilyukhin for failing to report himself as a “foreign agent” (part 1 of article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). He shared this on his page on VKontakte. His post was noticed by the outlet 7×7.

“It turns out that before being added to the foreign agents register, I should have realised I was under foreign influence, reported this to the Ministry of Justice, and acquired the status. And, for good measure, I was supposed to end my council and any other political activity, and stop expressing my opinions on government decisions and policies. That’s how it is!” Ilyukhin recounted, summarising an explanation given by Ulyana Strunina from the Arkhangelsk region’s Ministry of Justice office.

Ilyukhin was added to the “foreign agents” list on 18 October 2024. The Ministry of Justice explained that this was because the councillor “spread false information” about the Russian authorities’ policies and “as a correspondent” appeared on the information platforms of “foreign agents” (most likely referring to his blog on the 7×7 media outlet website, which had also been added to the register earlier). On 25 October, due to this status, the Severodvinsk city council revoked Ilyukhin’s mandate.

In the Krasny Fakel Theatre in Novosibirsk—a major city in Siberia—a performance of The Case, directed by Dmitry Yegorov, was cancelled following a demand from law enforcement agents, reports NGS, citing its sources.

On 1 February, the theatre announced the replacement of The Case, which had been scheduled to be performed that same evening. The cancellation was explained by technical reasons.

According to NGS, several sources familiar with the situation said that the performance was cancelled on the firm recommendation of law enforcement.

“The response from law enforcement was apparently prompted by a complaint from a dissatisfied audience member. It is assumed that The Case will no longer appear in the theatre’s repertoire,” one source said.

Yulia Shchetkova, head of press at Krasny Fakel, insisted in her correspondence with an NGS journalist that the performance was cancelled due to technical reasons. In response to a question on the theatre’s Telegram channel about whether there would be any performances of The Case this season, the channel administrator replied that none were planned for March and the repertoire for the following months had not yet been set.

The premiere of the performance took place at Krasny Fakel in 2020. On the theatre’s website, it is described as a satirical production telling the story of a high-society fraudster whose ex-fiancée is accused of criminal conspiracy as a result of his scams. The woman’s father, in order to help her, plans to give a large bribe to the “master of the case,” a state councillor.

“The performance is a ruthless satire that knows no temporal bounds,” reads the description for The Case.

In reviews posted in the theatre’s public group, audience members noted that the production addresses issues with the judicial system and corruption, and is also filled with “jokes on political themes” and references to recent events.

Former theatre director Aleksandr Kulyabin is currently on trial, accused of exceeding official powers (para. “v” pt. 3 art. 286 of the Criminal Code) and embezzlement on a large scale (pts. 3 and 4 art. 160 of the Criminal Code). He headed Krasny Fakel for 23 years and was dismissed as director at the end of 2022. That same year, productions by his son, director Timofey Kulyabin—who spoke out against the war in Ukraine and resigned as chief director—were removed from the theatre’s repertoire.

The story has been corrected to fix an inaccurate description of the play’s plot. We apologise for the error.

A woman living in annexed Sevastopol has been fined 50,000 roubles (around US$550) under the law on “propaganda of refusal to have children” online (part 3, article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences) because of posts on social media. This was reported by the city’s police Telegram channel. The post was highlighted by the Feminist Anti-War Resistance.

It is not known which court issued the sentence. OVD-Info was unable to find a record of the case.

Authorities described the 29-year-old woman as a “fan of the childfree movement.” According to them, she “posted misanthropic content, including statements about the appeal of refusing to have children in favour of a carefree lifestyle.”

The police post is accompanied by screenshots of reposts from meme groups on VKontakte. Two of them feature actors and characters—including Rick from the animated series “Rick and Morty”—making obscene gestures (in most cases, police partially or fully blurred the raised middle finger); in the third meme, a photo of director Quentin Tarantino is accompanied by a quote allegedly from him: “Making films, not kids, is my motto. To hell with snot-nosed little bastards, I want to have fun” (the words “to hell” and “bastards” were also partially blurred by the authorities). Most likely, it is this latter meme that has been deemed a “statement about the appeal of refusing to have children in favour of a carefree lifestyle.” Police did not explain how the images with obscene gestures relate to refusing to have children.

The law banning “childfree propaganda,” which expanded the scope of the legislation on so-called “LGBT propaganda,” was signed by Putin on 23 November last year.

The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow has fined streamer Alexey Gubanov, known as JesusAVGN, 50,000 rubles (approximately US$550) after he was charged with “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3 part 1 of the Administrative Offences Code), reports SOTAvision.

The charge was based on a half-hour video published on the “Hesus Stream” channel titled “Hesus. The advance of the AFU in Kursk region. Putin’s panic. The situation on the frontline.” The court did not specify which statements the police considered to be “forming a negative attitude towards the ‘special military operation.’” The judge said this was due to the use of obscene language.

Gubanov’s lawyer Alena Savelyeva pointed out that the recording had not been published by the streamer himself or on his official channels, but rather by an unidentified person. She also noted that the streamer was expressing concern for conscript soldiers being sent to the frontline, rather than criticising the goals of the ‘special military operation’ itself.

Savelyeva demanded the case be closed, citing the statute of limitations, violations in the protocol, and the lack of the main piece of evidence in the case materials—the disk with the video, which was the basis for the protocol and referenced by the linguistic expert in their report.

Gubanov is one of the most popular Russian-language streamers on Twitch, and his YouTube channel has almost 1.4 million subscribers. In recent years he has been living in the United States. In October 2024, the streamer said that FSB officers had visited his parents, who live in Novokuznetsk, a major city in Siberia. Security forces suspected him of donating to the Ukrainian army, specifically the “Azov” unit. He denied this.

Lolita’s concerts have been cancelled in Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk. Venue representatives stated this was due to force majeure, reports “Siberian Express.”

In Kemerovo, a major city in Siberia, the concert was scheduled to be held on 17 February at the Arena sports complex, but the organisers announced that cable repairs would be taking place in the hall that day.

In Novokuznetsk, also a major Siberian city, the owner of the venue said that their “facility safety certificate had expired.”

“You understand that this is all about safety regulations—it’s a catastrophic situation. This means some don’t have a safety certificate but still hold concerts and festivals, while others have issues with cables, and cables mean fire risk. I am certain that their fire safety systems are not fully in order. <…> So just don’t go to these venues—it’s dangerous. They have admitted as much themselves,” commented Lolita.

The Vsevolozhsk District Court in St Petersburg fined former local council member from the Yabloko party, Fedor Utkin, 30,000 roubles (approximately US$330) under the article on carrying out “foreign agent” activities without self-reporting for inclusion in the register (Part 1, Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). This was reported by “Bumaga.”

Utkin was charged over posts on VKontakte made in 2024. The posts contained links to materials from “Dozhd” and a music video by the singer Monetochka, as well as commentary on the presidential election, Boris Nadezhdin, and the death of Alexei Navalny. These posts appeared before the politician was entered into the “foreign agents” register, which happened in July 2024. After Utkin was designated a “foreign agent,” he deleted all posts with links to other “foreign agents” and statements about politics, but the court did not take this into account.

The Nagatinsky District Court of Moscow has fined bard songwriter Andrei Buyanov more than 300,000 roubles (about US$3,250) on ten counts of “discrediting” the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by “Ostorozhno, novosti.”

Information about the hearings in Andrei Buyanov’s cases is also published on the court’s official website. All ten hearings took place on 27 January, with the same judge presiding at each of them.

According to the court’s published rulings, Buyanov posted anti-war statements, his own songs, and poems on his VKontakte page. In one of his songs, he wrote:

“It turned out my friends welcomed hell… And you can write on VKontakte about your yearning for the church, And you can piously post a family selfie, Craft wise songs, like the serpent king, But February forever showed us—WHO IS WHO.”

In another post, for which Buyanov was fined, he mentioned the memorial service for Alexei Navalny and Christianity in the context of the war with Ukraine: “I admire the people who were not afraid and came to the memorial and funeral of NAME,—the court quotes Buyanov’s text.—A symbolic video—against the backdrop of the church people are chanting what should have been heard in churches these two years: ‘No to war! ’ But it isn’t heard. The voice of God, expelled from the churches…”

Andrei Buyanov attended all the hearings. According to the rulings, he admitted his guilt in committing the administrative offence.

A protocol for demonstrating prohibited symbols (part 1, article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) has been drawn up against Saratov activist Sergei Ryzhov because of an image published on VKontakte eight years ago, reports the Telegram channel “The Case of Sergei Ryzhov.” The channel’s post was highlighted by the media outlet Svobodnye Novosti (“Free News”).

The channel notes that the image was published before the organisation it is associated with was banned. The post does not specify the name of the organisation or describe the contents of the image.

Police officers from Saratov’s Volzhsky District, who are responsible for administrative supervision of the activist, informed Ryzhov about the administrative case.

In October 2023, Ryzhov was released from a penal colony, where he had served a six-year sentence in connection with a case on preparing a terrorist attack (part 1, article 205 of the Criminal Code, with reference to part 1, article 30 of the Criminal Code) and illegal possession of explosives (part 1, article 222.1 of the Criminal Code). Investigators said the activist planned to stage a terrorist attack on 4 and 5 November 2017 and was seeking accomplices among members of the “Artpodgotovka” movement. Ryzhov denied guilt and claimed that police planted TNT and bottles of incendiary mixture during the search. After his release from the colony, he was placed under administrative supervision for ten years.

20:50 The Volzhsky District Court of Saratov fined Sergei Ryzhov 1,500 roubles (about US$17), finding him guilty of publicly displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation. This was reported by Svobodnye Novosti.

Previously, on 16 January, a court fined him two thousand roubles (approx. US$22) over another anti-war cartoon published on Strava. This one showed a swastika with the caption “never again” and the letter Z with the word “again.” The court found Maksim guilty of displaying Nazi symbols (under Article 20.3, part 1, of the Code of Administrative Offences). After the first administrative case, this resident of Nizhny Novgorod was fired from his job the same day.

As reported by the joint press service of the courts of St Petersburg, the Primorsky District Court has registered a case under the article dealing with the failure to comply with a lawful order or warning to address violations of the “foreign agents” legislation (Part 42, Article 19.5 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

Nevzorova reposted the item on her Telegram channel. Following this, she was issued a written warning with a demand to “rectify the violation.” She did not do so.

The Sovetsky District Court in Ryazan has sentenced Yevgeny Ovchinnikov to seven days’ administrative arrest under the article on displaying the symbols of a banned organisation (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The announcement from the court’s press service was reported by Mediazona.

The reason for the prosecution was the shout of “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!” in the street, which law enforcement interpreted as “attributes of greeting for the extremist organisation ‘Ukrainian Organisation’ ‘Ukrainian National Assembly—Ukrainian People’s Self-Defence.’”

Two more residents of Khabarovsk Krai have each been fined 1,000 roubles (about US$11) over the “I/WE are Sergei Furgal” symbol. The SOVA Centre reported the court rulings.

Victoria Pukhova had a sticker with this symbol on the rear window of her car when traffic police stopped her in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a city in the Russian Far East. The Central District Court of Komsomolsk-on-Amur summarised her statement: “This sticker was placed on the car about two years ago. Pukhova does not know exactly who put it there, as the car is often left in the yard of her home due to her family not having a garage. She was unaware that it could be considered an extremist message. She had never before been stopped over this sticker.”

Evgeny Krivetsky was charged over a video on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social media platform, which featured posters bearing the slogan “I/WE are Sergei Furgal.” Krivetsky did not attend the hearing at Khabarovsky District Court.

Pukhova was fined on 20 December, and Krivetsky on 23 December 2024.

In February 2024, the Khabarovsk Regional Court recognised the “I/WE are Sergei Furgal” movement as an extremist organisation and banned its activities. According to the prosecution, which brought the case, the movement “under the guise of defending and supporting the former governor” called for prohibited activity and used “various political technologies,” including the organisation of unsanctioned protests.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Arkhangelsk has fined former SOTAproject staff member Darya Poryadina five thousand roubles (US$55) under the article concerning participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation” (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences). SOTA reported this.

In December, a case was brought against her for her work with the SOTAproject media outlet.

Anatoly Bannykh, a worker at the Ural automobile plant and chair of an independent trade union in Miass, Chelyabinsk region (an industrial city in the Urals), has been sentenced to five days in detention over a photo showing his tattoos that was posted on VKontakte in 2019. Human rights activist Valentina Komkova reported this.

An administrative case was opened under the article on the display of extremist symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The reason was a photo of Bannykh with his son. Tattoos in the shape of eight-pointed stars are visible on his knees, which law enforcement officers deemed to be the symbol of the ‘AUE movement’.

“Yes, there’s a photo with Anatoly and his son on VKontakte. Yes, Anatoly has tattoos on his knees—a lifelong reminder of the 1990s… So what? How exactly do you imagine the ‘confiscation of banned material’? Will you cut the stars out of his knees? Nonsense!” Valentina Komkova commented on the police report.

Previously, Bannykh served 14 days of detention over another administrative case on displaying extremist symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) after posting Alexei Navalny’s video “Response to General Zolotov” on VKontakte. The video had in fact been posted on the man’s page back in 2018.

Two days after the original detention ruling, the court issued a further decision, this time on a second charge of disobeying police orders (Part 1, Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The court sentenced the man to five more days in detention. According to police, Bannykh refused to get into a patrol car.

A 30-year-old Crimean, Asan O., has been fined 100,000 rubles (approximately US$1,100) under the article on “LGBT propaganda” (part 3, article 6.21 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences). The information was discovered by Verstka.

The reason was a video posted on Odnoklassniki showing several people holding a rainbow flag and a photo of Vladimir Putin with makeup. The video was captioned: “There are GAYS working in Putin’s administration.”

At the court hearing, the man explained that he had not uploaded the video to his own page, but had simply given a “like” to a post published by an acquaintance. After that, the post appeared on the Crimean’s profile. Verstka notes that this is indeed how the “like” system on Odnoklassniki works.

The Valday District Court in Novgorod Region fined the radio station “Novgorodskaya Volna” and its editor-in-chief over songs by Zemfira, Noize MC and Morgenstern. This was reported by the publication Pskovskaya Guberniya.

The reason was that in November, these tracks were aired without stating that the artists are “foreign agents.” The radio station was fined 40,000 roubles (approx. US$440), and the editor-in-chief was fined 4,000 roubles (approx. US$44).

In Kazan, a large city on the Volga River, the exhibition by artist Ivan Stan, “The Finiteness of Infinity,” was cancelled right at the opening. This was reported by the Telegram channel “VTP | Understood in Tatarstan”.

The exhibition was supposed to take place at the “Contemporary Art Gallery of Supermodern.” The event was cancelled at the initiative of the gallery director, who saw “satanism” in Stan’s works. Particular attention was drawn to a painting depicting a rider on a horse resembling a phallus.

“People are concerned by themes of catastrophe, death, decay, and war. These are exactly the subjects I address in my works. People must do their utmost to preserve their own world, so as not to end up in the lifeless desert shown in my paintings,” Ivan Stan writes about his works.

The Dorogomilovsky Court in Moscow has issued Lev Mironov a fine for kissing a statue of Metro builders at Elektrozavodskaya station “in front of underage friends.” Activatica drew attention to the case.

The young man was found guilty under the article on “LGBT propaganda” (Part 2, Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The amount of the fine is not specified, but the court decision states that “non-traditional” in this case consists of two elements: “not directed at a person; directed at a depiction of someone of the same gender.”

The video—where teenagers attack a Yandex courier, seize his box of food, run out onto the road and kiss the monument—originally appeared on the “Pravye Highlights” Telegram channel.

On 10 December 2024, Alexander Basansky, a resident of Rostov region in southern Russia, was sentenced to 15 days in jail under the article concerning the display of banned symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This information was published on the website of the Novocherkassk City Court, as noted by the SOVA research centre.

The case was prompted by two posts the man made on VKontakte. In one of them, he referred to the white-blue-white flag as “the flag of a free Russia of the future” and attached an image of it. The second post featured a photograph of a T-shirt with the words “Navalny’s Team.”

The Petrozavodsk City Court has fined Karelia-based journalist Denis Pogrebnoy 30 thousand rubles (approximately US$330) for anti-war posts and poems on the internet. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta and the Telegram channel From Karelia with freedom.

The journalist was found guilty under the administrative offence of “discrediting the Russian army” (Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Ten posts published on VKontakte in 2023 and 2024 were cited in the case, including a post in support of his colleague Natalya Sevets-Yermolina, who at that time had been declared a “foreign agent.”

“More and more of my friends are becoming foreign agents! I’m proud of Yermolina! After all (let me clarify right away), this status doesn’t mean ‘traitor,’ as some dyed-in-the-wool patriots might think, but rather a sensible and free person,” Pogrebnoy’s post was quoted by From Karelia with freedom as saying.

The journalist himself did not attend the court hearing, as he had left the country. He was represented in court by his lawyer, Natalia Chernova, who read out Pogrebnoy’s position.

“My aim is to inform my fellow citizens about what is going on around them, whether during working hours or in my free time. Doing so is an essential part of democracy and freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the Russian Constitution,” Pogrebnoy’s statement was quoted by Novaya Gazeta.

His counsel supported the journalist and added that he has the right to express his personal opinion, and that criticism of the authorities is not the same as discrediting the (Russian) army.

In October 2024, the activist was detained ahead of an event commemorating the victims of the 1993 White House shootings. He was charged with a repeat offence of violating protest legislation (Part 8, Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code), but at that time the court returned the case files to the police. He was later sentenced to one day’s detention, which he served while already in the station following his arrest. In 2023, the court issued Lopatin a warning for calling on people to attend a protest demanding the mayor’s resignation.

15:50 Lopatin is being charged with displaying Nazi symbols in a post on the “Antifa ru” channel, which reports the arrest of a suspected member of the far-right group Made With Hate. The post includes photos and videos of far-right activists, including some next to their graffiti on walls.

18:33 Lopatin was taken from the police station by ambulance, reports RusNews. The reason for hospitalisation is not yet known.

20:57 Lopatin has been hospitalised at City Emergency Hospital No. 10 “Elektronika,” his lawyer Dmitry Bereznikov told OVD-Info.

He added that a court hearing in Lopatin’s administrative case was scheduled for the following day, but Lopatin has now been admitted to hospital for at least three days. According to his lawyer, Lopatin is in a pre-stroke condition, and before being hospitalised he complained of fever, severe headache and palpitations.

Even before the hospitalisation, the Telegram channel “Soviet Revenge” reported that at the police station Lopatin had complained of feeling unwell. This was why an ambulance was called. That channel also described the activist’s condition as pre-stroke.

21 January The Central District Court of Voronezh fined Lopatin one thousand roubles (about US$11) for displaying prohibited symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code), his lawyer Dmitry Bereznikov told OVD-Info.

He stated that yesterday, 20 January, Lopatin was discharged from hospital after his condition improved. Lopatin spent three days there.

Oleg Markin, a resident of Novgorod region, was fined 1,500 roubles (approximately US$16) on 26 December for posting on VKontakte “a graphic image of a mythical creature with wings at a sewing machine, sewing a six-coloured flag, and a mythical creature standing by a waterfall with a six-coloured rainbow.” Markin was found guilty of displaying prohibited symbols (Article 20.3, part 1 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences). The SOVA Centre has highlighted the ruling of the Novgorod District Court.

The court ruling states that Pavlishchev published on Instagram “graphic materials, including some featuring the ‘OPEN RUSSIA’ emblem.”

The Nagatinsky District Court of Moscow fined sociologist and research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Margarita Zavadskaya, 15,000 rubles (approximately US$170) under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation” (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by Mediazona.

A protocol was drawn up against her over an interview with Meduza about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed uprising, which was published in June 2024.

Zavadskaya researches the political influence of Russian emigration in host countries. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she gave lectures about emigration for the Free University and appeared on the YouTube channels of Radio Liberty and Golosa.

A Moscow court has sentenced local resident Alexei K. to 15 days in detention over a question about the RDC flag. This was reported by “Ostorozhno, novosti” (“Caution, News”).

In 2023, Alexei K. asked in the comments section of RDC founder Denis Kapustin where he could buy the movement’s flag. Alexei K. also attached the RDC logo to his post.

In January 2025, while Alexei K. was serving an administrative sentence in another case for petty hooliganism (Art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences), law enforcement officers discovered the comment. The Moscow resident was charged with displaying banned symbols (Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). In court, he stated that he had left the comment before the RDC was banned and had forgotten to delete it.

A protocol has been drawn up against Sergey Kustov, chief editor of the pro-government media outlet “IvanovoNEWS | BARS,” for “discrediting the Russian army” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) due to a typo in the surname of a soldier, reports 7×7.

In November, the outlet published the names of 17 soldiers from Ivanovo region who went missing during the war in Ukraine. According to Kustov, the police officer considered a mistake in one of the surnames to be “spreading unchecked information as factual.”

“Don’t you want to look into the eyes of the mothers who for a year now haven’t known where their sons are? Don’t you want to explain to a son or daughter when they will be able to receive their father’s body, so they can bury him with dignity? … Of course, it’s much easier to slap me with a 300,000-ruble (about US$3,300) fine to silence everyone who’s ready to give a voice to the families of those missing in action…,” wrote the chief editor.

“IvanovoNEWS | BARS” openly supports the war. Earlier, Kustov said the police officer simply wants to “settle scores” because the outlet demands punishment for another senior Interior Ministry employee, “who blatantly lies and whose actions show signs of a criminal offence.”

The Central District Court of Novokuznetsk has fined first-year student Aleksandr Gaan from the Kemerovo Institute of Food Industry Technology over a humorous video featuring an image of Adolf Hitler, which he posted on VKontakte six years ago. The court’s decision was noted by the SOVA Research Centre.

On 6 December, Gaan was fined 1,000 roubles (about US$11) under the article on displaying Nazi symbols (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences).

The court ruling says that the video was discovered in November 2024 on the student’s page, which he managed under the name “Sanya Galaktionov.” In his video section, he had uploaded a clip titled “Saint Jesus,” which had originally been posted eight years prior in a humorous group of the same name. The video consists of documentary footage of Hitler’s speeches, Nazi supporters and soldiers. Over these visuals plays a song from a cough syrup advertisement for “Ambrobene,” which begins: “I arrive from Germany, bringing a healing syrup.”

In court, Gaan admitted guilt and said he had deleted the video from his page.

“We believe Gaan was punished unlawfully. From our point of view, those who should be held liable under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences are people who use Nazi symbols to promote the relevant ideology. The video Gaan added to his page is purely humorous in nature, and there is no reason to think it was used to promote Nazism,” the SOVA Centre noted.

On 10 January, the Tushinsky District Court in Moscow sentenced B. Salimov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, to 14 days’ administrative arrest for wearing a cap with the inscription “AUE.” The relevant ruling has been published on the court’s website. The outlet “Ostorozhno, Moskva” drew attention to the case.

Salimov was found guilty under the article on displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). According to the ruling, on 9 January Salimov was in an underground passage when police officers spotted his cap, “which had an image of an eight-pointed star on the side and the abbreviation ‘AUE’ on the visor.”

In August 2020, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the “Arrestants’ Criminal Unity” (AUE) a so-called extremist movement. The SOVA Centre noted that “AUE” is not a unified movement and does not have a political ideology.

The Garden of Eden exhibition by the artist Pavel Brat from Voronezh was cancelled after a denunciation. It was open for only one day. This was reported by 7×7—Horizontal Russia.

The exhibition was held at the Station creative cluster. As Brat explained, after the opening, on the morning of 10 January, representatives of the venue called him and said that the security service had checked the artist’s social media and “decided to close the exhibition.”

“Discrediting… Well, no one will send me any official letter, who am I here. I arrived in time for the opening hours of the exhibition, but security didn’t even let me inside, and then they informed me that I would only be allowed in for dismantling. <…> I hoped that my favourite strategy of personal invitations to my exhibitions, together with a single public announcement a month before the start, would help avoid attracting unnecessary attention from our local Aunt ‘Korobkova’ <…>, but alas,” Brat wrote on Instagram.

In December 2022, one day after opening, Brat’s Maps of Meaning exhibition in the House of Architects in Voronezh, a major city in southwestern Russia, was cancelled following a complaint over his anti-war stance. As Brat recounted, someone reported to the deputy head of the regional government, Konstantin Kuznetsov, who is responsible for architecture, that “the artist is an extremist and spoke out about the war in March and February.”

Inna Tishkina, a resident of Krasnodar—a major city in southern Russia—was fined four times in one day for anti-war posts on X (formerly Twitter) after being reported by a local deputy. This was reported by '7×7—Horizontal Russia'.

The Leninsky District Court of Krasnodar, on 26 December 2024, reviewed four protocols against Tishkina. Three of these were under the article on “discrediting the army” (Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences), while another was for “insulting the authorities” (Art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). For each administrative case, the woman was fined 30,000 roubles (approx. US$330), with the total fine amounting to 120,000 roubles (approx. US$1,325).

Tishkina was detained on 26 December following a report by Sergei Klimov, a deputy from the village of Severskaya representing the “New People” party. The security services-linked Telegram channel “NKB SMERSH Kubani” published a video showing the woman apologising after her detention. She was also forced to sing the Russian national anthem.

Klimov published screenshots of Tishkina’s posts on X. In one of them, the woman wrote about the letter Z on a passer-by’s backpack: When will these scumbags finally draw it on their foreheads. After her detention, the Krasnodar resident closed her account on the social network.

In St Petersburg, the Otto Dix concert scheduled for 26 January has been cancelled. The group’s announcement has been highlighted by “Bumaga.”

A representative for Otto Dix noted that the concert was cancelled “for reasons beyond the control of the group and organisers.”

As “Bumaga” points out, shortly before this announcement appeared, the pro-government Telegram channel “Russian Community of St Petersburg” published a call for people to contact the Investigative Committee and prosecutor’s office demanding an inspection of the band.

In December, activists from the “Russian Community” came to the Pravda club in Moscow and demanded the Otto Dix concert be cancelled to “stop Satanism and LGBT propaganda.” At the time, a club representative refused to call off the event. “Challenge accepted. Satanism will not prevail,” the “Russian Community” responded. The same day, Otto Dix cancelled the concert planned for 22 December.

In October, riot police disrupted the group’s concerts in Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod—major cities in central Russia. On 15 December, an Otto Dix concert in St Petersburg was cancelled just a few hours before it was due to begin due to provocations from the “Russian Community.”

Two residents of Khabarovsk have been fined under the article on displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation (Part 1, Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) because of stickers reading “I/We are Sergei Furgal.” This was reported by “7×7.”

On 2 December, the Industrial District Court of Khabarovsk fined Filipp Kurakin 1,000 roubles (about US$11). He was charged because of a sticker on the rear window of his car. In court, the man said he had bought the car with the sticker already on it, and did not know that “I/We are Sergei Furgal” had been banned as a movement.

On 5 December, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Khabarovsk issued a similar fine to another local resident, Oleg Grudinov, because of the same kind of sticker on his car. In court, he admitted his guilt and said that “I put the sticker on out of stupidity and forgot about it.”

In February 2024, the Khabarovsk Regional Court declared the “I/We are Sergei Furgal” movement an extremist organisation and banned its activities. According to the prosecutor’s office, which brought the lawsuit, the movement “under the guise of defending and supporting the former governor” called for banned activities and used “various political technologies,” including the organisation of unauthorised rallies.

In Russia, scenes mentioning Ramzan Kadyrov and drugs have been cut from the Russian release of the Canadian film “Simple comme Sylvain” (“The Nature of Love”). This was reported by film critic Timur Aliyev on his Telegram channel, “Commandant of the Fortress of Cinema.”

In one scene, the main character and her husband are walking in a park, discussing dictators. In the original version, the man says his “favourite dictator” is Ramzan Kadyrov; the woman, in turn, names former Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. In the Russian cinematic release, this scene is almost entirely missing.

In another scene, one of the characters says they have MDMA, while holding an object in their hand. In the cinema version, these few seconds have also been removed.

Yet another excerpt was edited, where a character says the phrase: “I’m a 42-year-old homosexual.” In the Russian release, this was dubbed as: “I’m quite a man.”

The Canadian film “The Nature of Love” by Monia Chokri was released in Russian cinemas in February 2024. The edited version is also being shown on Russian online streaming services Kion, Okko, Premier, Wink, Ivi, and Kinopoisk.

A protocol was drawn up against the TV Centre channel for “demonstrating LGBT relationships” to minors without an “18+” age restriction (part 2 of article 6.21.2 of the Administrative Offences Code). This was reported by the outlet Mediazona.

The administrative case has been submitted to the Tagansky District Court in Moscow. It is not yet known which film or TV series triggered the protocol against the channel.

In June last year, the general director of the NTS TV channel was fined 100,000 rubles (approximately US$1,100) over a video by Svetlana Loboda. They were found guilty under the same article, as the music video titled Indie Rock (Vogue) was shown on air with a “16+” age rating.